In a recent chat with Robert Cavuoto of Myglobalmind, Stryper’s Michael Sweet revealed that Metallica’s music isn’t appealing to him.
“I didn’t, man,” the frontman replied when asked if he saw Metallica play in Massachusetts. “And I’ll be honest. I’ll tell you. I’ve gone on record to say this. I respect Metallica. I get why everyone else loves Metallica. And they’ve obviously — they’re legendary. I’ve never been a big Metallica fan.”
Sweet continued, “I don’t listen to Metallica. It’d be hard for me to name one song. Maybe I could name one or two songs. I’m just not a big Metallica fan. I don’t get excited about that style of metal. I get excited about [Judas] Priest style of metal, [Iron] Maiden style of metal. Even Pantera, which, obviously, you hear a lot of Metallica’s influence on Pantera.”
“But I get excited about that,” the singer noted before talking about playing with Pantera and Metallica before. “We played with Pantera in Mexico and there’s an energy, man, that’s just indescribable. And we played with Metallica before, too, back in the day, when Dave [Mustaine] was still in the band.”
Michael added, “So I know about Metallica, and it’s not like I’m not educated. And I’ve heard them. I’ve seen them. Of course. But I don’t know. There’s just something about Metallica that just doesn’t do it for me personally. But hey, man, God bless ’em. Amazing, legendary band who has proven to be a force.”
Sweet also talked about Metallica on the 1 Question With… interview series earlier this month. After saying that Stryper has been mocked from the start because they sing about Jesus instead of more typical rock themes, the vocalist added, “Metallica and Slayer — no disrespect to those guys, I would never wanna be like those guys. Not in a million years. Yeah, [Metallica are] playing stadiums. Who cares?”
He then stated, “I didn’t get in this for the money. I didn’t get in this to play stadiums. I mean, obviously, there’s a rush that comes with that when you play to a big crowd and it’s electrifying. But my point is that’s not what we’re doing this for. So we don’t long to be Metallica or Slayer, and we’re not that style. I grew up on [Iron] Maiden and [Judas] Priest. That’s metal to me.”
Stryper’s new album, ‘When We Were Kings,’ will be released on September 13, 2024. It’s the follow-up to their 2022 album, ‘The Final Battle.’